They are asking for help for a Cuban family stranded at the border between Belarus and Lithuania.

The Cuban Yunia Esther Peña, residing in Mallorca, Spain, has been trying for days to resolve the delicate situation in which her sister and nieces find themselves, trapped without means of subsistence and without water at the border between Lithuania and Belarus.

A visa that was promised turned out to be a scam, leaving them without resources and unable to move forward, according to statements made to the Mallorca press by the Cuban, who owns the restaurant Siurell in Port de Pollença.

"My family is dying in the mountains," he exclaimed helplessly upon seeing how the political conflict between the two countries has left his loved ones in an administrative limbo, who had traveled on a tour package from Cuba to Russia that turned into a nightmare.

"My family was sold a tour package to visit Russia, and they were supposed to be picked up at the border of Belarus to enter Lithuania. No one showed up, so they decided to cross on their own, but when they reached the border crossing, they were told they could not enter, and when they turned back, they were warned with gunshots in the air that they could not return," Peña recounted from Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

"On the fourth day of not finding a solution, they alerted me. They have been in the middle of a political conflict between countries for almost a week. They have run out of the water and food they had, and they promptly send me their location because they fear that something might happen to them," he added.

The Cuban businesswoman, who arrived on Tuesday night in the capital of Lithuania, tried to get closer to the point where her family was at the Medininkai border crossing in a rental car.

However, the police intercepted her and warned that any attempt to get within a five-kilometer radius could have immediate criminal consequences.

"Neither by taxi nor by bus do I have options to cross into Belarus in search of solutions," he explains with frustration.

"They don't let them go either way, and we are worried about everything we are told that happens at that border," he emphasizes while extending his stay in Vilnius waiting for news from the embassy.

Peña fears that the wait will be prolonged in an area where the safety of his sister and his nephews, one of whom is a minor, is seriously compromised.

For now, it only has occasional updates on their location to know where they are and to ensure that they are still alive.

Cubans trapped between Lithuania and Belarus

Yunia Esther Peña's family is not the only case of Cubans stranded at the border between Lithuania and Belarus.

In May, a group of seven Cuban migrants, including a pregnant woman and a girl, who were stranded at the border between Lithuania and Belarus, decided to block traffic at the border crossing as a refusal to deportation. A local Lithuanian media outlet confirmed this at the time, citing a spokesperson for the border service.

In that case, the Cubans entered the European country after making a request for political asylum at the Medininkų point, a request that the Lithuanian authorities ultimately dismissed, considering that the applicants did not meet the conditions.

Cubans, not having the visa requirement for Belarus, take the opportunity to travel to that country and from there undertake risky transits in order to obtain political asylum or refugee status in any of the neighboring countries.

Until about a year ago, the route started in Serbia, a country that also did not require a visa for Cubans, until that country decided to control human trafficking at its borders.

Alert about an increase of Cubans in a similar situation

A post on Facebook this Thursday by internet user Alejandra Pino Díaz described the situation of a growing number of Cubans at the border of Lithuania as "horrible."

"The coyotes, who are transporting them from Moscow, are lying, charging them thousands of euros to leave them in a very unsafe situation. I have a volunteer friend at the Lithuanian border. The reports are desperate. Right now there are five Cubans, including a 16-year-old girl, trapped between the bullets of the Belarusian police and the Lithuanian patrol that won’t let them pass," specified Pino Díaz, referring to the Cubans, among whom the family members of Yunia Esther Peña must be included.

"A couple of days ago, a baby abandoned by its parents was found in the forest in the rain, severely injured, and two women were tortured, one of them raped. Help me alert others," added the complainant.

A political conflict that worsens the situation.

The border between Lithuania and Belarus serves as the external border of the European Union and the eastern border of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Months ago, the conflict between the two countries escalated when the border crossings of Lavoriškės and Raigardas were closed to "reduce the risks associated with the increasing transit flows through Lithuania from Belarus and the activities of Belarusian intelligence and security services against the state and citizens of Lithuania."

Two border crossings in Medininkai, where Yunia Esther Peña's family is trying to cross, and Šalčininkai remained open with restrictions.